


Wingmen

by coyotes



Category: Borderlands, Tales from the Borderlands - Fandom
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-24
Updated: 2015-06-24
Packaged: 2018-04-05 23:59:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,101
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4200057
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/coyotes/pseuds/coyotes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rhys has a crush on Vaughn, but he's not talking about it. They're in college.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Wingmen

**Author's Note:**

> i'm cranking out rhys/vaughn, episode 3 hurt me. expect so much more the next couple of days. also sorry this is so quick and dumb but i nEEDED IT OUT OF MY SYSTEM OKAY

They're sitting on the steps of the library eating their respective lunches (though Rhys tends to take some of whatever Vaughn brings, so Vaughn always brings extra to handle him) when Rhys realizes that something's not right. 

They'd met years earlier and hit it off quicker than Rhys has ever hit it off with anyone, so long ago that Rhys can't even remember the day. It was too easy to fall into a back-and-forth swing of talk with the guy, to just fall into pace with him and let them move together. 

The very first time alarms went off in his head was on those steps - he'd thought about it before in passing, always waved it off and tried bidding it away with some success - when he caught himself thinking about the way Vaughn's eyes light up when he's desperate to talk about something and he's finally listened to, usually by Rhys. 

It's gorgeous.

\--

 

They're all in a circle, Rhys and Vaughn and a couple of their college buddies, all a little tipsy and a whole lot of dumb concentrated in one room. They'd spent the first half of the night playing beer pong and some other shitty games, but of course it always led to spin the bottle. Of course. He'd tried to steer everyone away from it without it looking too obvious, but it hadn't worked. Trying to herd drunken college kids away from anything tended not to work. 

Rhys just hoped with all his heart that Vaughn wouldn't offer to go. Maybe they'd get out of this and Rhys wouldn't have to face the inevitable today. 

"I'll do it!" Vaughn says enthusiastically, without a single moment of freakin' hesitation, reaching out for the bottle, and part of him lurches inside of his gut. He wants to leave the circle, but he has to stop himself with a hell of a lot of self-restraint. 

Rhys is completely still, not drunk enough to be free of worry or care, as Vaughn twirls the bottle with a steady hand. 

Vaughn's not all that drunk either. 

He hopes it doesn't land on anyone else. He hopes it doesn't land on himself, either, that's a given, but he can't tell which outcome is worse. When the bottle finally, finally stops moving it slowly settles on the person next to Rhys, for a second he starts to give one sigh of relief before it... it twitches enough to point at him. 

His shoulders tense immediately but Vaughn doesn't seem to notice, he's too busy looking at Rhys as if he's egging him on to _do it_ , like this is nothing but a game to him and since they're playing a game it's okay to kiss because it's not weird. 

Well, Rhys guesses tiredly, it is just a game for Vaughn. He's not the one with the crush.

He wants to say it's a good kiss when Vaughn reaches over and grabs him by the front of his shirt and presses their lips together (with a chorus of laughing college kids in the background), but it's not. It's the achiest thing Rhys has ever felt, and the moment Rhys turns his head to deepen it Vaughn pulls away, not noticing Rhys' movement. 

He tries to hide the red that's slowly pouring into his cheeks, and he's glad that Vaughn's too busy watching the others make out and laugh to focus on him. 

His stomach is in knots. 

\--

Then there was the party. 

"What do you mean we can't go in?"

"I didn't say both of you, I said you in specific. He can go." And the bouncer makes a satisfied nod at Rhys. 

Vaughn stares down the bouncer that's gotta be, like, three or four feet taller than him, looking up at him like he'd be willing to fight him physically just to get in, and Vaughn's puffing up his chest a little. 

Rhys thinks it's cute when he does that. He's always slouching to hide all his muscles under his shirt, but when he really wants to he can look like a... really, uh, buff Chihuahua or something. It's endearing, to say the least. 

"What, so my dorky friend can get in but I can't because, what? I wear glasses? Is this a joke?"

"Hey, hey, Vaughn. Don't worry about it. Your dorky friend isn't going anywhere." Rhys cuts in, and Vaughn looks at him with complete and total surprise, like he'd... expected Rhys to go in without him. That really hurts, actually. That he'd think that. 

"Oh." Is all he says, and Rhys manages a small smile. 

Vaughn backs away from the door, muttering under his breath just loud enough that he knew the bouncer could hear. "Didn't want to get into your stupid party anyway, douche."

"Let it go, Vaughn. He's just jealous of your good looks and didn't want you hogging all the attention and girls and ruining the night for everyone else," Rhys says sternly. 

"Aw, you think so?"

"Know so. They'd probably all be like - " he adopts a high-pitched voice, " - 'oh, nameless sexy stranger from places unknown, let me do body shots off your rippling muscles!’ You'd be a hit; they'd be swooning all over the place."

Vaughn starts laughing in the alleyway, starting as a surprised chuckle and then building up to a pleasant-to-hear spot of genuine out-of-breath laughter. 

"Never -” Vaughn says between laughs, " - use that voice ever again."

So, the only plan of action was to keep it going. 

"'Oh, come on, you don't want to take me and my big old honkers back to those dirty bathroom stalls with poetic writing like 'Jake was here, Steve eats ass' written all over them in strange fluids? So romantic!'" And Rhys pretends to swoon, pressing close to Vaughn and leaning half his body weight on him while Vaughn struggles, both with laughter and to keep himself up. 

"Get off me, you weigh like ten thousand pounds!"

"'But it's so romantic,'" Rhys sighs dramatically in his new favorite voice. 

Vaughn loses track of his footing and Rhys notices they're falling a little too late, but he has long enough for his instincts to kick in and his arm to stretch out on one side of Vaughn to brace his fall. 

"Ow," they say in unison.

Rhys notices he's bracing himself with one arm - his only arm - on top of Vaughn and since it's just the one it's shaking a little with the struggle of holding him up and away from Vaughn's chest. 

"Hey," Vaughn says. 

"Hey," Rhys says, even quieter, and they both sit there in complete silence for what feels like hours, before Rhys pushes himself up and holds out his hand to give Vaughn one to grab. 

When Rhys pulls him up, Vaughn doesn't let go of his hand, just grabs it by the wrist. 

"Dude, your hand is bleeding."

"Is it?" Rhys says, actually surprised. He hadn't felt it or anything, but he guesses that's because he was, uh, distracted. 

The second it hits him and he feels the sting in his palm he whines, and Vaughn lets go of his hand. 

"It won't be bleeding for that long. We could go see a movie?" Rhys proposes, knowing nothing is going to be open anyway. Stupid.

"At midnight? Nah, nothing's open."

"We could get some burgers downtown," Rhys offers as his second proposal, and Vaughn nods next to him as they walk. 

Nice.

"Um, Rhys?"

Not nice. 

"... Yeah?"

 

"Did you really mean that stuff back there?" Vaughn says nervously, rubbing the back of his neck with one hand. 

"What stuff?"

"The me being good-looking part," he chuckles awkwardly. 

"What? Have you ever looked in a mirror, dude? You're like a nine out of ten."

"How come I'm not a ten?" Vaughn pushes. 

"Because..." because you're off limits, is the first thing that comes to mind, but he cuts that one right out of his options.” Because I don't want it getting to your head, you know what that does to people? Knowing they're too attractive? That kills, Vaughn."

"So if I didn't let it go to my head, I'd be a ten. That doesn't make any sense, Rhys. I'd be a ten regardless."

Rhys laughs it off. "Psh. Yeah, I know. Just don't wanna sound weird."

"You're not," Vaughn says simply, and that's all they say for a while. 

They don't talk again until Rhys' mouth is filled with fast food. 

"Thanks for not going in," Vaughn ventures. 

"Dude, I wouldn't leave you out on the curb. You're my wingman and I'm your wingman, we make, like, a whole bird together. I can't run around as half a bird."

Vaughn snorts. "I'm serious, I mean it."

"You'd do the same for me, right? It's what bros do, 'Kay? We have each other's backs."

 

"That means a lot to me, Rhys. Thank you."

He tries to think of something to say that might make this better. 

"Don't mention it. Eat your fries before I do."

Ugh. Smooth. 

He's not too good at this. 

\--

They make it back to their apartment safe and sound two hours later after walking when they could have taken a cab, and when Rhys turns the lights out for the night he finds his mouth stuck in a smile. 

\--

They share a bed, but it's big enough that both of them have their space and they don't have to touch if they don't want to. They'd gotten a discount on it when they first went to the mattress store and thought it'd be pretty much way easier to manage, and it was. One bed was easier to keep up with than two, and it felt like it took up less space. 

Rhys wakes up that morning and their fingers are touching. Barely brushing against one another, but touching. Which is weird for two reasons - one, Vaughn always wakes up way before him, and two, Rhys doesn’t reach out like that normally? Not in his sleep. Not ever. 

He quickly retracts his hand away from Vaughn's and turns around in bed, trying to wish the flush plastered to his face away. And when he hears Vaughn get up about twenty minutes later, he pretends to be asleep. 

\--

They're at it for a while, or, Rhys is at it. Vaughn's been touching him a lot more lately; maybe he's noticed Rhys needs it. Physical contact. It's helped in some ways, but in others it's just made his feelings all the more difficult. 

Sometimes Vaughn will brush his hand against Rhys' when they walk and Rhys will shiver, sometimes he'll grip his shoulder or pat his back or just... just in general, he'd touch him. They'd always touched, Rhys had never been ashamed of that growing up, when they were roughly the same height they used to walk so close together they were practically attached by the hip. 

But as adults it was different. It just felt different, not bad in every way but bad in lots of ways. Bad because Vaughn was so nonchalant about it, never asked if Rhys had something going on that involved him. He felt like Vaughn was too oblivious to really be Vaughn. 

He's stressing over an essay at his desk in their study room, working his pencil over with his teeth more than he's working over his essay. Vaughn comes in at about two in the morning, watching him in the doorway for a few minutes before coming close enough to rest his hands on his shoulders and lean over to watch his paper do absolutely nothing. 

"Rhys, you're killing yourself here. The essay's not gonna write itself if you stare at it hard enough."

"I know," Rhys groans, rubbing at his eyes with his hand. 

Vaughn's thumbs dip between his shoulder blades, but Rhys is too busy being tired to notice it at first until he starts moving them in little circles, hard presses with the pads of his thumbs. 

Rhys feels the tension ooze right out of him. 

"I'll help you finish it in the morning if you want, I just don't want to see you dead with flies covering your dumb face in the morning because you couldn't figure out a thesis by four a.m."

Rhys nods but he's barely listening, too busy bowing his head a little and rolling his shoulders into Vaughn's thumbs. 

"You wanna go to bed?" Vaughn asks, and of course the bastard knows he wants to go to bed, but he's asking him anyway. 

"Yeah," Rhys mutters, putting down the pencil he's been chewing on and hesitating on the getting up part. Vaughn's hands slide down his back just a little when he pulls them away, and Rhys hates that more than anything.

Vaughn actually waits for him in the doorway, waits for him again in the doorway of the bedroom, and then waits again by the bed for Rhys to get in first. 

When Rhys does fall onto the bed, Vaughn follows after him, wrapping one arm around Rhys’ waist. Rhys blinks in the darkness and doesn’t move – he’s too scared to. But Vaughn’s nuzzling his face to Rhys’ back, and Rhys is a fan of that. 

They used to do this all the time before school started, when they came home from parties and were too tired and cold from the walk home to separate, it was so natural back then. When school really did start, that’s when they got busy, went to bed at different times. It made sense that they hadn't found time for it, but he still felt guilty for not initiating it more. Either way, Vaughn seemed content to lie there like that, but Rhys wasn’t, and he turned around to face Vaughn, getting one of his legs between Vaughn’s own and resting his chin on top of Vaughn’s head. He can feel Vaughn’s warm breaths against his shirt, and it’s nice. It’s really nice.

They fall asleep like that, twined together and warm, Rhys forgetting about his essay long enough to get a good night of just – nothing. Nothing but Vaughn and the bed.

\--  
When he wakes up Vaughn is still there, half-asleep and messing with the front of Rhys’ shirt idly with his hands. 

Oh, God, he wants to kiss him again. But a real kiss. Like the one he’d almost had with him back at the party. He just ends up hugging him closer, though, sighing through his nose.

“Feeling better?” Vaughn says quietly between them.

“Yeah. Thanks, Vaughn.” 

“Hey, no problem. When’s your next class?”

“Uhh, two?”

“Want me to make breakfast?”

“Oh my God, yes, I love you.” Rhys says as he buries his face into Vaughn’s hair. 

Rhys realizes what he’s said and stops his entire thought process and excitement immediately, and Vaughn’s stopped moving his hands.

“Haha, yeah… you too. Do you want bacon or eggs?”

“Bacon,” Rhys says queasily. 

Vaughn slides away from him and off the bed, and once he leaves the room, Rhys covers as much of his face as he can with one hand. This was a mess. 

\--  
After that slip, Vaughn acts weird around him.

Well, nothing’s changed, actually, but that’s what makes it weird. He just doesn’t acknowledge it all, and they go on with their lives just as they’ve always had. It didn’t feel any different as a whole, but something was different, something that didn’t change anything between them but felt like it should be changing everything about their relationship. 

One day, Rhys finally snaps, but on the inside. He knows he needs to talk about it, get it out of his system, and every time he’s near Vaughn he finds his fist clenching with the force it takes to hold back everything he wants to say.  
Vaughn… actually breaks first. On the outside.

"Dude, we need to talk."

They’re at home again, it’s the weekend and they both decide that neither of them want to go out for once, not in the mood. They usually at least walk a few blocks and go somewhere, but this wasn’t one of those times. Rhys doesn’t respond, just stares at him, completely blank. 

"Look, we... I know, okay? And it's okay. You're just so frustrating, I've been waiting for you to make a move for, like, ever, and I didn't want to push it. I had to make sure you weren’t just… being you. So, weird.”

“You…hhuoa… what now?”

 

Rhys feels like the biggest douchebag in history. 

“Yeah, hah,” Vaughn says as he rubs the back of his neck. “I’ve known for a while, before we kissed at the party and I’ve had a crush on you for years now - I just didn't want to be obvious about it until you were overly obvious about yours and you just… I’m sorry, I had to make sure, but I didn’t know for sure and you didn’t make a move all those times we – “

“Wait, wait, slow down, what do you mean make a move?”

Vaughn turns redder than he’s ever seen him. 

“I figured if you liked me you’d make a move eventually. You’re always so good at talking to other people, I mean, when you want something that bad. I… I guessed it’d come out of you eventually if you really wanted to, y’know.” He makes some vague hand motions, and Rhys is still staring at him, completely slack-jawed. 

“Ehh… it’s stupid,” Vaughn says, deflating. 

Rhys gets up as fast as he can, putting his arm around him and doing his best to haul Vaughn off the floor with the force of his hug. He manages to get Vaughn about an inch or so off the ground before he has to put him back down, and Vaughn just looks confused.

“It’s not stupid, I’m stupid, this whole _thing_ is stupid, can I kiss you?”

“Wait, what?” Vaughn says excitedly. 

“Can I kiss you?” Rhys repeats, but it comes out far more breathy. 

Vaughn grins and pulls him down, and this time, they don’t break the kiss too early. The only reason Rhys breaks it is to talk hastily between pressing kisses to Vaughn’s lips, things like “I’m so sorry I didn’t tell you” and “does this make us boyfriends now because I would so love to be boyfriends” and “you’re awesome and I care about you so much you’re my best man and I really, really like you, so yeah, I’m sorry this is so late.”

It’s a mess, but it’s a good mess. 

They end up on the floor, actually. Rhys won’t stop kissing him. 

And Vaughn’s not complaining.


End file.
